Hain Celestial – HAIN – Strategic Acquisition In The United Kingdom

NASDAQ:  HAIN), a leading natural and organic products company providing consumers with A Healthy Way of Life™, announced the closing of the acquisition of Premier Foods plc’s portfolio of market-leading packaged grocery brands including Hartley’s®, Sun–Pat®, Gale’s®, Robertson’s®, and Frank Cooper’s®—with peanut butter, honey, jams, fruit and jelly, marmalade and chocolate product offerings—along with its Histon manufacturing base in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.

• Acquires Market-Leading Brands Including Hartley’s® And Sun-Pat®
• Provides Entry Into Ambient Grocery Categories
• $0.25 Per Share Accretion Expected In Fiscal Year 2013

The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Hain Celestial’s earnings beginning with the second quarter of fiscal year 2013.  The Company estimates that net sales during the eight month period from closing to June 30, 2013 will approximate $180 million with accretion in earnings per diluted share during that period approximating $0.25 before acquisition related charges.  Consideration consisted of £170 million in cash and 836,426 shares of Hain Celestial common stock.

The business being acquired generated over $250 million in sales in its last fiscal year, of which approximately 60% were branded products, and will become part of the Hain Daniels Group.  Hain Daniels Group, wholly owned by Hain Celestial, was established in October 2011 following the acquisition of The Daniels Group.  Hain Daniels makes and sells fresh food and drinks in eight chilled and frozen food categories under leading brands including the New Covent Garden Soup Co.®, Johnson’s Juice Co.®, Linda McCartney®, Farmhouse Fare® and Lovetub®.

“This acquisition furthers our goal to expand in the United Kingdom and positions the newly expanded Hain Daniels business in the top 40 of all food and beverage suppliers in the UK,” commented Irwin Simon, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hain Celestial.  “We expect to leverage the loyal customer base from Hartley’s, Sun-Pat, Gale’s, Robertson’s, Frank Cooper’s and Rose’s with our existing global brands including Rice Dream®, Celestial Seasonings®, Earth’s Best®, Terra® Chips and Sensible Portions® in the United Kingdom marketplace.”

“Our mission at Hain Daniels is to offer our customers and the consumer relevant, convenient, inspiring and innovative branded fruit and vegetable solutions for a wide variety of consumption occasions.  We believe creating an Ambient Grocery Division through the acquisition and integration of these Premier Foods brands with its experienced workforce will strengthen this proposition,” added Rob Burnett, Chief Executive Officer, Hain Daniels.

The Company will conduct a conference call on Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 4:30 PM Eastern Time to review its First Quarter Fiscal Year 2012 results, which will be released prior to the call.  The Company expects to discuss the transaction at that time.

The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. – HAIN

The Hain Celestial Group (HAIN), headquartered in Melville, NY, is a leading natural and organic products company in North America and Europe. Hain Celestial participates in many natural categories with well-known brands that include Celestial Seasonings®, Earth’s Best®, Terra®, Garden of Eatin’®, Sensible Portions®, Health Valley®, Arrowhead Mills®, MaraNatha®, SunSpire®, DeBoles®, Gluten Free Café™, Hain Pure Foods®, Hollywood®, Spectrum Naturals®, Spectrum Essentials®, Walnut Acres Organic®, Imagine®, Almond Dream®, Rice Dream®, Soy Dream®, WestSoy®, The Greek Gods®, Ethnic Gourmet®, Yves Veggie Cuisine®, Europe’s Best®, Cully & Sully®, New Covent Garden Soup Co.®, Johnson’s Juice Co.®, Farmhouse Fare®, Hartley’s®, Sun–Pat®, Gale’s®, Robertson’s®, Frank Cooper’s®, Linda McCartney®, Lima®, Danival®, GG UniqueFiber®, Natumi®, JASON®, Zia® Natural Skincare, Avalon Organics®, Alba Botanica®, Queen Helene® and Earth’s Best TenderCare®.  Hain Celestial has been providing “A Healthy Way of Life™” since 1993.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.